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AESCULACEAE. THE BUCKEYE FAMILY. 

 AESCULUS. THE BUCKEYES. 



Trees with dark or ashy-gray colored bark; twigs stout; buds large, 

 leaves opposite, palmately divided into 5-9 ovate or oblong divisions, 

 the divisions serrate; flowers in terminal panicles; fruit a 3-lobed 

 capsule. The fruit is poisonous to stock, although it rarely proves 

 fatal. 



Anthers protruding from the flower; fruit warty 1 A. glabra. 



Anthers included in the flower; fruit smooth 2 A. octandra. 



1. Aesculus glabra Willdenow. BUCKEYE. Plate 116. Medium to 

 large sized trees 1 ; bark of old trees fissured, not tight; branchlets robust ; 

 twigs at first more or less pubescent, remaining more or less hairy until 

 maturity; leaves large, 5-foliate, rarely 6 or 7 foliate, petioles more or 

 less pubescent; leaflets sessile or on very short stalks, ovate-oblong, 

 oval-oblong, or obovate, about 1 dm. long, acuminate, narrowed to a 

 wedge-shaped base, more or less pubescent beneath until maturity, es- 

 pecially along the principal veins, margins irregularly serrate except 

 near the base; flowers generally appear in May when the leaves are 

 almost full size, but in the southern part of the State the flowers 

 sometimes appear the last of March, flower clusters 1-1.5 dm. long, the 

 whole inflorescence usually densely covered with white hairs, flowers 

 pale-greenish yellow; fruit a globular spiny capsule, generally 3-6 cm. 

 in diameter, which usually contains 1-3 large glossy chocolate-colored 

 nuts. 



The pubescence on the petioles, leaflets and inflorescence is generally 

 white, but often with it are reddish and longer hairs which are scattered 

 among the other hairs, except in the articulations of the flowers, 

 pedicels and leaflets, where they appear in tufts. 



Distribution. Pennsylvania south to Alabama, west to Iowa and 

 south to the Indian Territory. Found in all parts of Indiana. It is 

 usually associated with beech, sugar maple and linn. On account of the 

 poisonous character of its fruit, land owners have almost exterminated 

 it. 



From the data at hand it appears that the buckeye was a rare tree 

 in the northern tier of counties. However, as soon as the basin of the 

 Wabash is reached it becomes a frequent to a common tree where beech, 

 sugar maple, and linn are found. In all of our area it prefers a rich 

 moist soil, except in the southern counties it may be found even on the 



18. Coulter: Size of some trees of Jefferson County, Ind. Bot. Gaz. Vol. 1:10:1875 

 He says: "Fifty trees were measured at three feet above the ground with an average diameter 

 of 2 ft. and 9 inches. An equal number of Aesculus octandra were measured at the same 

 height from the ground with an average diameter of 2 ft. and 9 inches." 



